Friday, September 6, 2013

One of my favorite things about being a dad is walking around Jersey City with Shayna in the baby carrier. Having a cute baby knocks down shyness barriers and allows total strangers to come up to you and tell you how cute your kid is -- something a proud parents never gets tired of hearing. I've met so many people over the last couple of months from taking Shayna to the park and walking her to day care. In fact, a couple of days ago I was walking down the street on my way to get Shayna and the owner of a local grocery store said to me, "Hey no baby today?"

Last week I was walking down a street and I heard some smokery-voice call out, "That is precious." Some lady and her friend were sitting on a stoop and basically cat-calling Shayna and me. At the park, a few mothers have come up to me and said how cute Shayna is. Naturally you have to say, "Your baby is so cute too."

This isn't new information but having a baby really brings out the smiles. It's like having a dog, except you don't piss anyone off when it takes a dump on the sidewalk (well in Vietnam babies sometimes do poop/pee on the sidewalk). Anyway, I've become almost expectant of passing people to smile at me and Shayna. Which makes what happened yesterday extra weird: Shayna and I were going to the local supermarket to pick up some tomatoes for dinner. When we were about a block away a middle-aged, well dressed black man was walking to us. The man smiled at me and I smiled back, ready for him to give a compliment. Instead his eyes got all buggy and he looked right at me and said, "Jesus died for you." I wasn't sure what to say back:
a) Just for me? What did I do?
b) That's a bummer but do you think my baby is cute, Mr. Crazy Pants.
c) L'Shana Tova.

In other news, here's some of Shayna's monthly highlights:
1. She got two teeth! Her sharp little teeth can really bite...just ask her mom.
2. Shayna is racking up the airline miles. We flew to Colorado for Ryan and Jessica's wedding (where I was the officiant!). We actually had an emergency landing on the way in Ohio because apparently our plane was on fire. Shayna didn't panic at all.

(PICTURE: Jessica, Ryan and Shayna in Golden, Colorado.)
3. Shayna finished her first day care and started at her new one. At her old one she was one of the few girls and was about the middle of the pack in age. Now her class is mostly girls and she's one of the oldest.
4. Shayna can sit on her own. However if you sit behind her she'll lean on you like a barcalounger.
5. Shayna broke my nose two times. Seriously I heard it crack...twice! I was reading to her on the bed and she head butted me. She seemed 100% fine while I was in pain for hours.
6. Shayna can sort of crawl backwards in a circle. We're thinking of attaching a swiffer to her since she's dragging herself all over the floor.
7. Shayna went to her first national park -- The Garden of The Gods in Colorado.
8. Shayna has started to learn how to flirt. She was all over the flight attendant on our plane and the guy sharing our row. It was awkward.
9. Huyen bought Shayna a potty-training toilet. So far Shayna still prefers her diapers.
10. Shayna got pink eye. She still looked cute though.